Mangosteen is a small and very slow-growing tropical evergreen tree. The height of the tree attains 20 to 82 feet. The length of its leaves is up to 10 inches. The width of its flowers is 1½ to 2 inches. And maybe male or hermaphrodite is on the same tree. The fruit is round, dark-purple to red-purple and smooth externally and about 1 1/3 to 3 inches in diameter. It may be seedless or has 1 to 5 fully developed seeds in flattened and ovoid-oblong shape. Seeds can be boiled or roasted and eaten.
The fruits have a thick rind, which surrounds with 5 to 7 segments and has seeds inside. The rind is rich in pectin. After treatment with 6% sodium chloride to eliminate astringency, the rind is made into a purplish jelly. The proportion of edible pulp is pretty small, about the size of a mandarin. Basically, there are two crops in one year, one in fall and one in early summer.
Mangosteen is native to South East Asia and requires a year round, warm, very humid, equatorial climate. In spite that many people have tried to plant mangosteen in other places, such as California, Florida, or special greenhouses somewhere outside South East Asia, the outcome turns out to be not succeeded due to the different living conditions. The tree only can grow well in tropical areas and requires abundant moisture. Thailand or Burma is the original place people found mangosteen.
People call the fruits from mangosteen tree as "queen of fruits" because of its unbelievably excellent flavor. Experienced mangosteen eaters use their thumb to pry out the dried flower parts (sessile stigma) and then break the fruit open. The taste when we have it melting in our mouth is even much better than the taste when we are having ice cream. The more we eat it, the more we cannot reject it. No one would argue if we call it as the best tropical fruit in the world. Besides, mangosteen is one of rare fruits that have both good taste and good nutrition at the same time. It is really a blessed plant from Asia by the Creator.
What is Mangosteen
The fruits have a thick rind, which surrounds with 5 to 7 segments and has seeds inside. The rind is rich in pectin. After treatment with 6% sodium chloride to eliminate astringency, the rind is made into a purplish jelly. The proportion of edible pulp is pretty small, about the size of a mandarin. Basically, there are two crops in one year, one in fall and one in early summer.
Mangosteen is native to South East Asia and requires a year round, warm, very humid, equatorial climate. In spite that many people have tried to plant mangosteen in other places, such as California, Florida, or special greenhouses somewhere outside South East Asia, the outcome turns out to be not succeeded due to the different living conditions. The tree only can grow well in tropical areas and requires abundant moisture. Thailand or Burma is the original place people found mangosteen.
People call the fruits from mangosteen tree as "queen of fruits" because of its unbelievably excellent flavor. Experienced mangosteen eaters use their thumb to pry out the dried flower parts (sessile stigma) and then break the fruit open. The taste when we have it melting in our mouth is even much better than the taste when we are having ice cream. The more we eat it, the more we cannot reject it. No one would argue if we call it as the best tropical fruit in the world. Besides, mangosteen is one of rare fruits that have both good taste and good nutrition at the same time. It is really a blessed plant from Asia by the Creator.